On the double-mode RR Lyrae variables of the Sculptor dwarf galaxy

Frequency analysis of more than 300 stars of the OGLE database on Sculptor galaxy has led to the discovery of 18 double-mode RR Lyrae (RRd) variables. This yields a 20% incidence rate for double-mode pulsation among the variables previously classified as first overtone RR Lyrae stars in this galaxy. Most of the RRd stars cover the period range of 0.47d < P_0 < 0.49d but there are two stars with longer periods of ~0.54d. All variables fit well in the pattern of the P_0 --> P_1/P_0 diagram, spanned by the RRd stars of the Galactic globular clusters and those of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). It follows from our previous investigations that the luminosities and masses of the RRd stars in Galactic globular clusters and in the LMC are almost independent of metallicity. By assuming that the Sculptor RRd variables also obey this rule, with the aid of the pulsation equations we estimate their metallicities. For most of the stars we get [Fe/H]~ -1.5, which is the same value as that obtained from a semi-empirical method for the average metallicity of the fundamental mode (RRab) stars. Two RRd stars have considerably lower metallicities, but even those are within the range corresponding to the RRab stars. The narrower metallicity range of the RRd stars is in agreement with their observed luminosity range, which is about three times smaller than that of the RRab stars.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Monopoles and instantons in SU(2) lattice gauge theory

We investigate the monopole-instanton correlation in SU(2) lattice gauge theory using a renormalisation group inspired smoothing technique. We look at the properties of monopole clusters and their correlation with instantons. Since the action of the smoothed configurations is dominated by instantons we compare the smoothed Monte Carlo lattices to artificially reconstructed configurations with the same instanton content but no other fluctuations. Both parallel and randomly rotated (in group space) instanton ensembles are considered.Comment: LATTICE98(confine

Bound on the string tension by the excitation probability for a vortex

A lower bound on the string tension for large beta in SU(2) LGT is derived. The derivation is from first principles and bounds the string tension from below by the expectation for the excitation of a single `tagged' thick vortex winding around the lattice. Thus confinement follows if this expectation remains nonvanishing at large beta. Numerical simulations are presented to show that this is indeed the case.Comment: LATTICE99(confine), 3 pages, 3 epsf figures, LaTeX, espcrc2.st

SO(3) vortices and disorder in the 2d SU(2) chiral model

We study the correlation function of the 2d SU(2) principal chiral model on the lattice. By rewriting the model in terms of Z(2) degrees of freedom coupled to SO(3) vortices we show that the vortices play a crucial role in disordering the correlations at low temperature. Using a series of exact transformations we prove that, if satisfied, certain inequalities between vortex correlations imply exponential fall-off of the correlation function at arbitrarily low temperatures. We also present some Monte Carlo evidence that these correlation inequalities are indeed satisfied. Our method can be easily translated to the language of 4d SU(2) gauge theory to establish the role of corresponding SO(3) monopoles in maintaining confinement at small couplings.Comment: 13 pages LaTe

Instanton Effects in Hadron Spectroscopy Revisited

We use an optimised clover action to study spectroscopy on an instanton ensemble reconstructed from smoothed Monte Carlo configurations. Due to the better chirality of the clover action, the artificial configurations show a marked difference from the free field behaviour obtained with the Wilson action. They however still fail to reproduce the physics observed on the smoothed configurations. The presence of freely propagating quark modes is found to be responsible for this.Comment: 3 pages, LaTeX with 4 eps figures, LATTICE99(topology

Anderson Localization in Quark-Gluon Plasma

At low temperature the low end of the QCD Dirac spectrum is well described by chiral random matrix theory. In contrast, at high temperature there is no similar statistical description of the spectrum. We show that at high temperature the lowest part of the spectrum consists of a band of statistically uncorrelated eigenvalues obeying essentially Poisson statistics and the corresponding eigenvectors are extremely localized. Going up in the spectrum the spectral density rapidly increases and the eigenvectors become more and more delocalized. At the same time the spectral statistics gradually crosses over to the bulk statistics expected from the corresponding random matrix ensemble. This phenomenon is reminiscent of Anderson localization in disordered conductors. Our findings are based on staggered Dirac spectra in quenched SU(2) lattice simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Vortices and the SU(3) string tension

We present simulation results comparing the SU(3) heavy quark potential extracted from the full Wilson loop expectation to that extracted from the expectation of the Wilson loop fluctuation solely by elements of Z(3). The two potentials are found to coincide. This agreement is stable under multiple smoothings of the configurations which remove short distance fluctuations, and thus reflects long-distance physics. It strongly indicates that the asymptotic string tension arises from thick center vortices linking with the Wilson loop.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX file with 6 eps figure

Absence of confinement in the absence of vortices

We consider the Wilson loop expectation in SU(2) lattice gauge theory in the presence of constraints. The constraints eliminate from the functional measure gauge field configurations whose physical interpretation is that of thick center vortices linking with the loop. We give a simple proof that, for dimension $d \geq 3$, the so constrained Wilson loop follows perimeter law, i.e. non-confining behavior, at weak coupling (low temperature). Thus the presence of vortex configurations is a necessary condition for confinement.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX fil